My Peculiar Treasures

2011-08-06T00:32:00.003-06:00

It was probably a month ago that I got an email from a good friend asking me if she could stay over a my house for a night or two. I answered with a definite 'YES!' So on Friday night Jolene and Mary pulled into my driveway, tired and worn, from a 12 hour journey from Smithers. It never ceases to amaze me how seamlessly our friendship takes off, even after 2 years of just emails and texts. So for the next 2 days or so we talked, went for walks, watched a movie (Well one of us did anyways...) and basically caught up on everything we had been missing. And so, I leave you with the only picture proof that Jolene was here (sorry its not a particularly attractive picture but.. meh.. it will do :-P ). I hope to see you again soon (two years is waaaaaaayyyy to long).

PS. I approve of Ben :-P

2011-08-01T10:26:00.000-06:00

Psalm 100

His Steadfast Love Endures Forever
A Psalm for giving thanks.

Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth!
Serve the LORD with gladness!
Come into his presence with singing!

Know that the LORD, he is God!
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!

For the LORD is good;
his steadfast love endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.

2011-07-28T12:33:00.006-06:00

1. I think the worst moment in the world is when I suddenly realize that I am wrong in an argument.

2.I totally regret all the times I refused to nap as a child.

3. I think somebody needs to invent an sarcastic font.

4. I think cursive is a lost art.. I tend to practice when I am on phone talking with someone.

5. Google Maps needs to start there directions on number 5 because I'm pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighbourhood.

6. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told the reader how the person had died.

7. Bad decisions make the best stories.

8. I wish everyone in the world would agree to stop upgrading after blue ray.. I'm sick of always having to upgrade...

9. It always scares me when I close a 10 page report, that I worked super hard on, and it asks me if I want to save any changes.. and I haven't touched anything.

10. When the label says "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" it means it will never get washed.. Ever.

11. I hate it when you are running through the house to answer the phone and just miss the phone call by milliseconds and when you call back it rings 10 times and goes to voicemail.. What did the person do when I didn't answer.. drop the phone and run away as fast as they could??

12. I hate when I put a lot of effort into doing my hair and makeup for the day and then I don't run into anyone I know.. What a waste..

13. I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

14. I keeps some peoples phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer that phone call.

15. I would rather carry 10 over sized, overloaded grocery bags into the house into the house than take 2 lighter loads.

16. Sometimes I look forwards to red lights so I can finish a text.

17. I have a hard time deciphering the line between hunger and boredom.

18. How many times is in appropriate to say 'WHAT?' before just smiling and nodding because you could not understand a person.

19. I love the feeling of unity when a group of cars work together to prevent some on from cutting to the beginning of the line up.

20. Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pant? Pants stay clean forever.

21. There is no worse feeling than the millisecond you think you are going to die when you tip you chair back just a little to far.

22. As a driver I hate pedestrians. As a pedestrian I hate drivers. But no matter what I hate bicyclists.

23. Sometimes I can look at my watch 3 times in a row and still not know what the time is..

24. Even under ideal circumstances I have trouble finding my cell phone, my keys or even pinning a tail on the donkey but every morning when I am half asleep, with my eyes closed, I can leap across the room and hit my snooze button on the first time.

Now I am just going leave you with a picture of my favorite niece.. Katie Jolene.

2011-06-28T15:34:00.002-06:00

Today my sister is due.

I have a boys outfit and a girls outfit for the baby and can't wait to receive the phone call telling us that she is labour. I am so excited and can't wait to meet baby Michard!

2011-04-18T14:16:00.002-06:00

At school I have 2 nicknames. Diaper Rash and Poop Flinger. Both are a little embarrassing but I will share the stories with you. First of all, my clinical instructor made us wear Depends for a whole clinical shift. It was an awesome learning experience because you can't tell a client they are comfortable until you have worn them. I pulled them on over my underwear and then pulled up my scrubs, only to look into the mirror and to see i had diaper bum. Mine were a little bit big, so even when they were pulled up to my bra line I still had a lot of sag in the back! Needless to say, after a couple of hours, I had a constant wedgie and the rubbing began. By the end of the shift all seven of us were walking like we had just rode a horse for the first time and we all were rubbed raw. The next day all of us waddled into class and when we explained what our instructor made us do the rest of the class burst into laughter and we got nicknamed diaper rash. Dang. The second story you have to ask about in person. It is definitely a story that needs to be told with actions!

2011-03-28T12:10:00.002-06:00

These past couple of weeks have been hectic. The instructors have been trying to cramp everything we need to know into just a couple of weeks and between school, clinical, and work it was has been a crazy couple of weeks. But I only need to get through the next couple of days and then i am home free. Here are a couple things I have been up to. 1) I experienced my first patient death. It was sad and horrible but yet such an amazing experience. We saw the signs and syptoms of death and did our best to keep her as comfortable as possible. 2) I gave my first IM and S/cut injections! It was so cool. It was crazy how easy it was. I was nervous the first time but my clinical instructor told me 'I don't know why students are so nervous about givinf injections, if heronine addicts can inject themselves so can you" 3) We used the robot to stimulate situations that might occur in the hospital. The technology of this robot is unbelievable. This robot could talk to us and respond to questions and can even give birth! Weird! 4) I got a transfer to SOF in St.Albert because I am going to come home for the summer. I am kind of excited about coming home and seeing everyone but I think I am going to miss my friends down here. Most of them are from school or work and I am going to be sad about leaving them! But I will be back soon. 5) When I get come back to lethbridge I am going to have to find a new place to live because my landlord is going to sell my house. :-( boo. So that is pretty much my life right now. Not super exciting but super busy!

2011-03-21T16:48:00.004-06:00

Tomorrow I have to practice my nursing skills on a robot.

I am so excited. This robot breathes oxygen, bleeds and has a pulse. It responds to the treatments that we provide, just like a human would. This way we can hone our nursing skills without putting patients lives in danger. This way we can practice and if our 'patient' dies it doesn't matter. We can just press a button and it will come back to life!

Its amazing how technology works!

On that note.. I just thought I would let everybody know I only have 20 more days of school! Yay!

2011-03-17T23:11:00.002-06:00

Last evening my friends and I were discussing what seemed to be the new trend around the college: people dying a streak of their hair a bright and wacky colour. After some discussion and in the heat of the moment it was decided that we should dye someones hair, nobody wanted to do it permanently but in my moment of brilliance I remember seeing a pack of Koolaid in our pantry so I suggested we dye our hair with that because it would wash out right away. So my friend and I sat down and the others proceeded to dye our hair. And wow.

The streak in the back was bright blue.

So after joking about it for a while I went to wash my hair to remove the colour. Then I wash it again. And then once again.

Turns out it doesn't just wash out.

Now not only am I walking around with blue in my hair...

.. I also smell like raspberry lemonade.

Sorry Jolene my camera isn't working right and will not take pictures. Hahaha.. Not that I need documented proof of my idiocy! Then I tried with my phone so I could send you a picture but it was too dark to see it. Dang.

2011-02-28T19:09:00.003-07:00

I've got a mormon vibe.

The first time I was confronted about it was early in the school year when my classmates made a joke about Mormons and then hastily apologized to Jessica and I. We looked at each other puzzled and told them they didn't need to say sorry before it sank in that it was probably because they thought we were Mormons. We both then burst into laughter and quickly set the record straight.

The next time it dawned on me that people thought I was mormon was at work. The managers would go on coffee runs and would get everyone coffees except for me. Every single time I was handed a hot chocolate, finally I asked about it and the manager gave me a strange look 'Ummm.. because you aren't allowed to drink coffee." Again I just laughed it off and set the record straight.

The last time was today. It was my first day of clinical and I was wearing a white shirt underneath my scrubs (because my scrubs are a little to big and when I bend over I give everybody quite the view). My clinical instructor told everyone that they couldn't wear shirts under there scrubs unless they did it for religious reason and she looked at me and winked. So I put up my hand slightly confused and asked what kind of religions required the wearing of white shirt under their clothes. She looked very surprised and replied.. 'why the mormons do dear..'

I think the reason I have this 'vibe' is because I am very open about my faith, I dress conservatively, and I am a firm believer in Sundays as a day of rest. Now I don't think these are a bad thing. It makes me happy to see that people can tell a difference in the way I act comparison to the world. What makes me sad is the fact they see these qualities and attribute it to Mormonism and not Christianity.

2011-02-23T13:49:00.003-07:00

My sisters and I were shopping on Family Day, when my mom turned to me and asked me about my car.

Mom - "So Rebecca, how is your car doing? Is it running okay? Giving you any problems?"

I shoke my head. " My car is doing really good. Its amazing that I haven't have issues with it."

Mom - "What a relief! It only has to last one more year then you can buy a new one!"

Michelle laughs. "You just jinxed it. Somethings going to happen to your car."

An hour later my roommate called me.

Dang.

2011-02-15T21:34:00.003-07:00

Last Thursday I took an practical exam on my sterile technique. I practiced so hard on learning it to perfection and the girls from school and I spent many hours at each others houses role playing and going over this checklist over and over and over again and I thought I knew the skill inside and out.

I was the last tester of the day and I was so extremely nervous. I performed the skill and let out a huge sigh of relief - I was finally finished. I headed to my sisters house and their a surprise awaited me. My mom and sister came down for the night. So after visiting for a couple hours I headed home and ran straight for the computer. I turned it on, checked my email and to my horror there was an email in my inbox. It read ' Rebecca we regret to inform you that you have failed your exam and need to retest next Tuesday." I burst into tears and could not stop crying. I can't remember the last time I failed an exam.

Over the next weekend, I relived the test over and over and over again. Where did I mess up? What did I forget? I sat for hours staring at the list trying to find the spot were I made the fatal error, but I could not see an obvious error.

Today, I went to my intermediate nursing skills class and I checked the schedule for my retest time and I didn't see my name. So I asked my instructor when I was to retest. She opened her book and started flipping through the pages looking slightly confused.

'Oh dear' she said "It seems we made a mistake... you weren't suppose to get an email.. you passed the exam on the first try."

Say What?!?!

I am so happy I don't have to rewrite but I am a little upset that I wasted a weekend worrying and studying for a rewrite that isn't necessary.

Oh well..

2011-02-12T23:23:00.003-07:00

A pass.

After rewriting that math test after a dissapointing 89%, I am happy to announce that all my future patients can breath a sigh of relief. I scored 97%. Now only 3 patients out of every hundred will get the wrong meds.

2011-01-27T12:53:00.002-07:00

Its been a while since I last posted but not too much has been going on in my life. School is back in full swing and when I am not in classes, I am working, when I am not working I am studying and when I am not studying I am sleeping. It seems to be all I do. Oh well. I guess that is the life of a college student.

Last semester I thought we had a full course but it is nothing in comparison to this semester and the instructors have all warned us that it is NOT recommended that you have a job for this semester. I am not to worried about it though. I have always had a part time job. During high school I worked at McDonald's for 15-20 hours a week. In the summertime I would work on the Nagtegaals farm during the day and mcdonalds in the evening. Even after I started working at elves I would work there during the day and 25 hours a week a Save On, so I don't think I would know what to do with myself in the evenings. Bahahaha.. I am actually one of those people that just can't still in the evenings I need to have something to do. So I guess I will see. This is the first week that I have noticed the stress of a job and school though. Two and half weeks in and we already have 2 midterms, a quiz and one more midterm next week. Sigh. Nursing is all about the exams.

In other good news, I got my clinical placement and will be working in an old folks home this semester for 6 weeks. I am excited about that, exceptionally since we have actually learned how to take vital signs and other 'real' nursing skills :-P

2011-01-14T13:28:00.002-07:00

I have an confession to make.

Sometimes I browse a little to often back at my Uganda pictures.

But every once in a while I stumble onto a picture like the one above and I just have to wonder..

What in the world is going on?

2011-01-08T22:07:00.003-07:00

Today started like every other Saturday. I slept in a little, I hung out around the house, and then I headed into the blizzard like weather and headed to work. Slowly.

The wind was so strong, and the snow was so thick it was hard to see anything past the hood of my car and it just got worse and worse. Needless to say, I made it to work alive and well, to according to my predictions SOF was empty. For my whole shift only several people came through. It was nice in a way though, because this was I was able to talk to my managers and get to know them a little better, and boy did I learn alot.

Several weeks ago I got an review. I did decent on it but not super good but not horrible. On this review on of the first questions asked was "Do you aspire to be an SOF manager someday?" To which I answered "no". The manager interviewing me got this angry look in his eyes and demanded " Then why are you even here?" Ummm.. because I am putting myself through nursing school so I can become a nurse.... He kind of grunted and went on with the review.

Today I learned the reason he was stunned I said no was because he thought I would make a great SOF manager someday! I was so surprised. I didn't even think this manager liked me! It was good to hear though.

I think I am still going to stick to the nursing thing though. Sorry.

2010-12-29T23:38:00.003-07:00

In the pre Christmas season, I got a call from sister asking me to meet her at the mall. We set the time for right after my exam but my since my exam was done sooner than expected I headed to our usual meeting spot and sat down on the bench to wait. After a few minutes an elderly gentleman sat down next to me and turns to me, "Hey, aren't you the girl who works at Save on Foods?" After telling him I was we had a lovely chat for about 10 minutes until his wife finished shopping and we said our good byes.

Another 5 minutes ticked by. Yet another man, this time much younger, started to walk by my bench and then stopped up short. He turned to me and said "Do I know you? You look familiar." and then it occurred to him "Hey aren't you the girl that works at Save On Foods?" Again I agreed, we chat for a couple of minutes and then he moved on.

Finally Michelle arrived and we begin to shop.

The next day a friend asks me to go for lunch at a local fast food joint. When we arrived we placed our order and then when I went to pay the man said, "This one is on me." I gave him a strange look and he just smiled and said "You work at Save on Foods, You are a nice person."

Since when have I become 'The Girl Who Works at Save on Foods"

2010-12-20T14:41:00.003-07:00

Its official.

I am done. Just 21 days of chillaxin.

Now that I am a quarter of the way to becoming a nurse, I will share some of the things I learned this past semester.

1) If you go to someones house and your bring Tupperware they will fill it up with leftovers and you are set for the next couple of days. No cooking required.

2) When driving to and from Edmonton make sure you do not pull an all nighter the night before and if you are feeling sick don't even attempt to drive. Not worth it. The trip takes way longer from all the stopping you are required to do.

3) Procrastinations is both a good thing and a bad thing. I don't get as stressed out about school if I do the work beforehand, but when the deadline is looming and I feel the pressure I tend to much much better on the assignments. Very bad habit to get into!

4) Sticky notes are amazing. I am definitely a list person so if its not written down I probably won't get it done so I have sticky note reminders everywhere. It is a very satisfying feeling to rip the paper into tiny pieces and throw it away. Ahhh.. finished.

5) I love grocery shopping. I hate clothes shopping. I guess I get that from my mom but it I could live without ever having to enter a clothing I would. I am definitely a roll out of bed go as you are type of person, this is much to my mom's dismay. But grocery shopping... I just love it. Going up and down the aisles looking for the best deals. Looking at all the products. Wow. I could go everyday (I don't though). I especially love the cleaning products aisle. Strange I know.

6) I can't do school work if my room is messy. Before I can even think about studying I have to make my bed, pick up my clothes ect.. Otherwise I just can't concentrate.

7) When I moved away a friend gave me a tea cup and every time I do my school work i make myself a cup of tea or hot chocolate with this mug. I just have to say it is the perfect cup. It is the perfect size and holds just the right amount. Also it has this little spot for your thumb on the handle that is just perfect. SO if I didn't say thank you.. THANK YOU!!

8) Since we don't really have a TV at our house I realized how much time I have to dedicate to my studying or other. Also I realized that other than a few shows I don't really miss it at all (even though sometimes when people at school are talking about the latest show or movie I feel a little left out because i have no idea what they are talking about!)

9) I drink too much coke. One time our instructor was giving a lecture about diabetes and he said "when Rebecca gets diabetes..." Not if.. but when.. Dang. Maybe I will slowly wean myself off. I don't know where I get this love from because we never really drank it when we were younger but...

10) I am an overachiever. This I found to be shocking. In high school I never studied not even once, rarely did my homework and got just decent grades and I was happy with that. In fact I scoffed when people who got nineties whined about their grades. Now I have become one of 'those' people. I have no idea where it came from, and I am working on it. When I get a mark in the eighties I have to convince myself that it is an awesome mark still I bite my tongue to keep from complaining. Grrr.. That frustrates me.

Anyway This is my list of what I have learned. There are many I though of before that I can't think of now. I will probably remember in the middle of the night. Enjoy!

2010-12-14T23:22:00.002-07:00

A couple of weeks ago at work, I asked for four or five days off during the Christmas holidays so I could have a nice visit with my family. My boss smiled and agreed he could work something out. Today I looked at the schedule and he gave me 2 days off for Christmas and 3 days off for New Years. A total of 5 days.

I guess I should have been more specific.

2010-11-23T18:17:00.002-07:00

13 More Days of School...

19 more Assignments Due

Well.. To be fair. They aren't only assignments. This list includes everything. 6 Quizzes, 3 Essays, 3 Assignments, 1 midterm and 6 final exams.

2010-11-22T11:14:00.002-07:00

I am thinking of writing a book. I am going to name it 'How to be Awkward." because ever since I moved to this windy little city down south my nack for putting myself into very embarrasing/awkward moments seems to be at a high.

Case in Point:

Our school has a very strict policy about wearing your scrubs outside of clinical. This makes sense as we would be transfering germs and bacteria we picked up at the hospital or the nursing homes. So the other day after clinical I decided I needed to run into Walmart for a few things, but I was still in my scrubs. So I pulled into a far stall and debated my options. I could get my groceries later after school and after I have changed, I could just go in and hope nobody notices or I could change in my car.

Slowly I looked over one shoulder, then over the other. Nobody was in sight.

I reached down and took off my shoes. I looked over one shoulder then the other. Nobody was in sight. So I quickly threw my coat over my lap, undid my scrubs, pulled them off and reached for my jeans.

Just as I was leaning down to put my legs into my pants 2 full sized vans of hutterites pulled into the parking lot and parked right next to me. There I sat with nothing on except a coat covering my lower extremities as they piled out of the van and started to talk.

My face was the color of crimson by the time they finally started to walk away. With them gone I pulled on my pants and just drove away.

2010-11-16T21:59:00.004-07:00

Today I woke up earlier than normal. This is not an normal occurrence for me as I am the type who has trouble rising when the sun is still sleeping. As I lay in the dark snuggled under my blankets I listened to the sound of the wind and I think I knew even at that moment that this wind was different than any other wind I had heard in Lethbridge before. So slowly I got up and peered out my window and all I could see was the frost and pure blackness. It wasn't I stepped outside ready to head to school that I saw what made the wind different.

SNOW!

The very first snowfall.

Its hard to tell here but the snow and wind was actually very strong and by evening it was up to my ankles.

As I got to my car I attempted to open my door only to find it firmly iced shut. Since it was only -3 out the snow was falling and becoming instant ice. It was actually so bad out that it was hard to walk on the road let alone drive. I had an exam that morning but as I listened to the radio most of the school were shut down due to horrible condition. All the school except mine of course.

It was actually nice going to school though because I got prime parking next to the door, the hallways were empty and the best chairs in the library were available.

And now here I am at home, snuggled under a nice warm blanket with a cup of tea. Sometimes i love winter.

2010-11-14T22:08:00.004-07:00

Today in church I was chatting with a couple of girls when a women came up to me and started to speak with me. She knew my name but while she looked familiar I could not place her (luckily I have a photo church directory and with one quick check I found her name and address - Veldmanville - Main House) She invited me over to her house on Wednesday night and told me I could bring my friend Tracey and the curly haired girl (Shauna) with me if I felt that would be more comfortable. I agreed and a time was set. She started to walk away and almost as a afterthought she turned back.

"Make sure you are looking your best, i have single boys."

Say what!?!?!

I walked right into that one.

2010-11-12T13:03:00.002-07:00

We had the project since the beginning of the school year. The date on the assignment was clear, it never changed and the instructor gave us many hints about the assignments and many warnings about the date it was due. Yet when the time came for the assignment to be due a lot of students moaned that they didn't have enough time. They were up all night frantically working on it but they didn't seemed to worried about it. After all they finished the assignment.

Some students did try and worked on it for those couple weeks. So when they listened to the group of procrastinators talk about how they got distracted by the television or by hanging out with friends instead of doing homework they just shook their heads and smiled.

Now fast forward a couple of weeks.

The instructor holds up the assignment, and you can just feel the anticipation as she begins to hand out the papers. Some of the people wear a great big grin as they peek a there paper while others hold a look of disappointment. Then the complaining begins. The people who waited to the last minute start trashing the instructor. They got a poor grade.

'The instructor hates me..'
'She marks so unfairly...'
'What gives her the right to give me this grade..'
'Its not my fault, its not my fault, its not my FAULT..'

What has happened to accountability? Why is it the teachers fault?

She didn't make them go to the movies. She didn't get distracted by television and yet somehow its all her fault. We live in a 'ME' generation. Our ancestors worked hard to build a life for us and now we think because of that we don't have to work or try at all. Everything should be handed to us on a silver platter. We should be rewarded for no effort at all. It is sad and because of this mentality a good instructor is leaving. She said she can no longer endure the looks of hate when students get their marks back and their complaining and tireless efforts for her to change their grades to grades undeserving of the work produced. How pathetic is that? The students put more effort into getting her to change their grade then in the assignment itself.

How ridiculous.

2010-11-10T11:45:00.002-07:00

Hahahaha.. When I saw this picture I laughed so hard, if you don't reconize it, it is the picture of the women descibed in Song of Solomon. Somehow I never pictured her looking like this!

"How beautiful you are, my beloved, how beautiful you are!
Your eyes are like doves behind your veil.
... Your hair is like a flock of goats...
Your teeth are like a flock of newly shorn ewes...
Your lips are like a scarlet thread,
Your temples are like a slice of pomegranate...

"...Your neck is like the tower of David
built with rows of stones
on which are hung a thousand shields...
... Your two breasts are like two fawns,
twins of a gazelle
which feed among the lilies...

"... Your lips, my bride, drip honey,
Honey and milk are under your tongue...
And the fragrance of your garments
is like the fragrance of Lebanon.
Your belly is like a heap of wheat...

"... Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon,
which faces towards Damascus..."

From Song of Solomon chapters 4 and 7

2010-11-08T17:04:00.002-07:00

Recently in the last couple weeks as I was working at save on foods I saw a man. He was an ordinary man with normal looking clothes and big basket full of groceries. Just a typical customer. But the more I watched him the more I noticed something strange about him. He was always at Save on.

Every single time I worked.

He never would go through my till, I would offer every time he walked by but he would just grin and shake his head. After a while I mentioned it to another cashier. She turned to me and said 'next time you see him tell me and if necessary we will call security.'

Sure enough a couple minutes later he came around the corner again.

As I pointed him out to the cashier. She started to laugh.

'No need to call security. He is security.'

No wonder he never wanted to come through my till. He still laughs about it this day.

2010-11-02T18:13:00.002-06:00

Today a group of friends and I were in the science study hall. We had a three hour break and decided that the best use of this time was to study for an upcoming exam. For this exam we need to learn all about many of the cells and be able to identify them off of a picture. The pictures we need were in the study hall but unfortunately a group of boys (also in our bio class) were already using them. So we proceeded to chat and study for another class. After an hour or so we noticed that the boys no longer seemed to be using them so we decided to approach our fellow classmates and ask for the pictures. On the way over I picked up an magazine that seemed to be thrown on the ground and when we approached the boys. I confidently held up the magazine and asked the boys if the magazine was theirs.

They looked at the magazine. Then looked at me. Then back at the magazine.

Two of the boys looked down awkwardly and avoided eye contact.

Two of the boys made eye contact and just smirked.

The third looked very uncomfortable and denied the magazine belonging to them.

After an uncomfortable silence I slowly turned the magazine over and stole a peek at the front. Staring back at me was a naked women and the words PLAYBOY shouted out to me. I gave a horrified gasp, threw the magazine on the floor and just walked away.

That's five more people I can never make eye contact with again.

2010-10-28T22:39:00.002-06:00

Today was my very last and final mid term exam and probably the most intimidating exam I have ever written.

We had to go into a room, draw a scenario and then complete the task in front of a board of nursing instructors who had to evaluate if you did the task right or wrong.

If you did it right good for you move on and never have to think about this exam again. If you do it wrong you fail and have to re write. If you fail twice you are booted out of the nursing program. GAH.

No pressure or anything.

Luckily for us we got to know the four possible tasks we could possibly perform and luckily for us we also got a list of things that are automatic fails. Unfortunately for us it was 2 pages long.

Don't introduce yourself to the client - Fail
Don't ask for allergies - FAIL
Don't check patients name band - FAIL
Don't lower bed when finished task - FAIL
Don't raise bed when doing task - FAIL
and the list goes on and on..

So I walk into the room and I was sweating bullets. I was almost to the point of hyperventilation and I walk over the hat and draw handwashing.

Never have I washed my hands so good.

The instructors never even blinked. They gave me no positive or negative sign to tell me how well I did, just the instruction to check my email at six. If I failed I will receive a email.

I never recieved an email.

:-D

Piece of cake.

2010-10-18T14:47:00.002-06:00

As of Sunday, October 17 I officially have dual church membership. I am part of the pilot program at Trinity as they try to work out the kinks but I think it is an amazing idea. Basically I will be a member of the Lethbridge Church and will be able to partake of Lord's Supper and I will have an elder that will be watching over me and the church in edmonton will receive consistent letters regarding my church activities. This way when I go home for the weekend or for the summer (maybe) I will be able to do so easily. I think it is brilliant and I know of several churches that have this program in place for students.

And now that I am actively involved in the Lethbridge Church I have joined the young adults group and my experiences have been amazing. In the beginning of the study we all open our hymn books and we sing together and it's not the everyone is embarrassed that someone else will here them sing type but rather everyone sings loudly and joyfully. I just love that, its pure communion of the saints. Then we spilt off into little groups to discuss the weeks lesson. This year we are doing Respectable Sins by Jerry Bridges.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! I started to read the first chapter and didn't put it down till the end of the book. Its an easy read and its packed jammed with a lot knowledge and will have you reevaluate your whole life and view on sin. Here is some excerpts from the first two chapters.

In the biblical sense of the term, sainthood is not a status of achievement and character but a state of being — an entirely new condition of life brought about by the Spirit of God. Paul describes it as “[turning] from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God” (Acts 26:18) and again as having been “delivered . . . from the domain of darkness and transferred . . . to the kingdom of His beloved Son” (Colossians 1:13)... (p14)
He then goes on to speak about how even though we are set apart by God, we still struggle in the flesh with sin:

The Bible has a word for conduct unbecoming a saint. It is sin. And just as “conduct unbecoming an officer” covers a wide range of misconduct, so the word sin covers a wide range of misbehavior. It covers everything from gossip to adultery, from impatience to murder. Obviously, there are degrees of seriousness of sin. But in the final analysis, sin is sin. It is conduct unbecoming a saint. (p16)

[sin] has, in many instances, been deflected to those outside our circles who commit flagrant sins... It's easy for us to condemn those obvious sins while virtually ignoring our own sins of gossip, pride, envy, bitterness, and lust, or even our lack of those gracious qualities that Paul calls the fruit of the Spirit (p19)...

The result, then, is that for many morally upright believers, the awareness of personal sin has effectively disappeared from their consciences. But it has not disappeared from the sight of God. (p 22)

I do believe that this is a necessary read and everyone should read it. It is just a reminder that sin is sin. It doesn't matter if you murder someone or tell a little white lie, the consequences are the same. It certainly made me think about the all the sin in my life.

My memory is nearly gone;
but I remember two things;
That I am a great sinner, and
that Christ is a great Saviour.

John Newton (1725-1807)

2010-10-15T14:23:00.003-06:00

I'm back.

After seven exams in a week and a half and two major projects I am absolutely exhausted. When I start to study I tend to get into a zone and forget about the time until it is way to late and past my bed time. Fortunately for me it paid off and I did very well on all the exams I have gotten back. Only a couple more weeks and it will start all over again as the second round of mid terms come around. But providentially they are a little more spread out next time so it won't be two or three exams a day.

For about 2 weeks I carried around several stacks about this size of cue cards so I could study any where. These cards contain anything you could possibly want to know about the human body and its functions and a ton of medical terms. These are my best study tool.

On a high note I have received my scrubs and have had 2 clinicials at the extended care centre. It was so exciting even though it almost feels like the staff thinks we are in the way and in a way we really are. We have been at school for 6 weeks and our skills are just the very basic of skills. My mom will be excited to learn that I have learned how to make a bed (a skill she thinks I lack) and just for the record the way we learned is very precise and it was a two page list of all the steps involved. I never knew making a bed could be so complicated, but mom you would be proud of beds I now can make. They look perfect.

Now I had very good intentions of blogging more about the wedding with pictures and stories but I didn't take any pictures that day so I am waiting for Jason to send down a cd with the pictures he took. I was actually amazed at how some of the pictures he took turned out he is becoming an amazing photographer and I hope he stays with it. And along with a wedding blog comes a post about the wedding pranks and unfortunately I also forgot my camera for these so I will try describe them as best as possible. The first was on wedding with the saran wrapping of the car ( i wasn't responsible for this one but it was fun seeing Richard's reaction). The second one was on thanksgiving and the day of the return of the happy couple. We didn't do too much but we did saran wrap the toilets, and put a layer of dixie cups filled with water across all of the bathroom floors. We then blew up about 200 hundred balloons and filled about 50 more with water and we filled both bathrooms up with balloons and closed the door. Then we streamered the house. Actually I should say we streamered the house first which was not a good idea on our part because everytime we had to go back and forth between bathrooms we had to pull out our mission impossible moves. I think it was more fun for the group of us that put it up then for richard and michelle as the had to take it down.

A lot more has happened in the last couple weeks but this post is getting long and I need to shower before I head to work at five. I will post again soon.

2010-10-13T11:57:00.002-06:00

So a lot has happened in the past two weeks and everytime I think its blog worthy I quickly jot it down on a piece of paper and have good intentions to write about it. And I will.

I promise.

I only have one exam, two quizzes, one major essay, and 2 poster presentations to do first.

Then I promise I will blog.

2010-10-03T16:21:00.003-06:00

On Saturday October 2 my sister Michelle married Richard Voorhorst in a very beautiful and very simple wedding in Coaldale.

The ceremony was beautiful and the reception was so much fun, even though I didn't enjoy the first half of it because I was so nervous about my speech I had to make. After I made my speech though I really enjoyed myself. There were plenty of games and lots of people contributed. Even the youth group from the URC of Lethbridge did a skit potraying Mich and Rich's dating life (how they met, their first date, the proposal, and the wedding planning) It was a lot of fun. Today I will leave you with a copy of the toast to the bride speech I did.

When I was preparing this speech I thought about what it meant to be a sister. According to the oxford dictionary it means “a close female friend”. I thought this was interesting because even though everybody in this room has a close female friend not everybody in this room has a sister, and sadly I imagine there are many sisters out there that cannot call themselves close friends. This is when I realized how lucky I am that I have someone who is both a sister and a best friend. Some of my friends hated growing up in the shadow of an older sister but I consider myself blessed to be Michelle’s little sister. The path she paved for me is one I am honoured to follow along on. Michelle has always left me big shoes to fill and I am a better person today because of it. So as I stand here and watch my big sister, my role model, enter into marriage I wish her all of the happiness that I could imagine.

I can still remember clearly the day Michelle met Richard. She had gone on a hiking trip at Waterton National Park and she was so tired when she got home but she wore this great big ear to ear smile and I think we all just knew, even though she denied it, that she had met someone and Michelle, you couldn’t have met a better guy. I never knew Richard before he started dating my sister so I can’t tell you any horrible stories about him but seeing the way Michelle’s face lite up when he pulled into the driveway or the way she still breaks into a grin when you mention his name we are happy to welcome him into the family.

When Michelle and Richard started planning the wedding I think they had everybody a little bit worried. The two favourite phrases that seemed to come out of their mouths were.. ‘ It doesn’t matter’ and ‘I don’t know’ and even though people, including me, have been known to crack a joke at this wedding planning technique I think Michelle and Richard had it figured out from the beginning. It doesn’t matter what your wedding colours are, it doesn’t matter how you decorate the tables or what kind of food you eat. A wedding is about Michelle and Richard exchanging vows before God and a room full of family and friends and that should be the focus. Even the day before the wedding, as I was sitting across from her at Tim Horton’s I didn’t see even a trace of the stress that some brides seem to have before there big day. Everything was placed in God’s hands and I think all everything just fell into place. You guys did a wonderful job.

I would love to stand here and fill you in on the Perrot family fun and special childhood memories, but the truth is there are too many laughs and way too many good times, to pick just one or two to share with you, but Michelle and I both know and cherish these memory’s, and I know tonight will bring many more memories that will last us for many years to come. SO now at the age 21 for the first time in my life I have to think about what it means to have a brother and this is something totally new to me so once again I turned to the dictionary, and you will never believe what it said, according to oxford, ‘ a brother is someone you can always turn to when you need a loan.’ SO tonight I wish my sister, my best friend, and my new brother God’s guidance as you begin your new life together. I love you both.

Congradulations Mr and Mrs Richard Voorhorst.

2010-09-29T17:40:00.002-06:00

So its been a while since I have had a really post and while I can't promise you this one will be any good it will be longer then the last few! It has been crazy down here in Lethbridge. Between school, work, the wedding, volunteering and school I have no time. I know I put school in there twice but I seen to be there all day and when I am not there I am studying and when I am not studying I am thinking about it. Its crazy. There are so many courses I am terrified that if I don't study for hours I will get behind and never be able to keep up. The average college student takes 4 or 5 courses a semester. A nursing student takes eight! I am stressed but I am trying to leave it in God's hands.

For one of my course I had to find somewhere to volunteer for 15 hours this semester so I found the Family Centre in Lethbridge. Its a really cool organization that provides programs to kids with parents of low income families. They do really good work. I was suppose to be the indoor playground attendant and I was so excited it seemed like an awesome way to get my hours in. So the first day I got there and there was no where to park except if you pay for the meter or in the Bay parking lot but it said 2 hour parking. So I parked at the very back of the lot where there was no two hour parking signs and headed in. There I sat in this little room for three hours. Alone. Only one parent brought there children in to use the playground and only for fifteen minutes. While she was there though her baby started crying and she just casually took off her shirt and started breastfeeding. Wow! I didn't know were to look. But basically that was the excitment for the day and hopefully next week draws more people. I think I will bring my books and study for a couple hours.

Michelle has asked me to be the one to do the toast to the bride and its stressing me out. I have a good beginning and ending and lots of ideas for the middle but nothing sounds quite right. I am not at all a speech maker so the idea of getting in front of people is making me lose sleep. Usually it always turns out alright but I don't know. I am excited for the wedding though. As I see everything falling into place I can't wait to see how it turns out. I also can't wait for the people from Edmonton to come so I can visit with them again. Texting and facebook is not enough, I need person to person interaction.

On friday I am going for a hike in Coalies for one of my classes. Jolene, I know you have no idea what a coalie is so I will take lots of pictures so you can see them. They are beautiful and I am so excited. We are bringing food and having a picnic in the middle and doing some sort of wandering off by yourself and relaxing. Our teacher is concerned we are too stressed so this is her relaxation technique. Maybe I will bring my bible for my time alone. There is nothing like leaving our stress to the Lord. Its going to be amazing!

Last monday the mangment at Save On announced that they will be opening a new Save On in Lethbridge. I am so excited. They asked me if I would like to transfer. At first I thought this is what I wanted all along but when they asked me I said I would think about it. I have no idea why but something seems to be holding me back. I guess I will see, it will be a while before it opens.

So that seem to be my life in a nut shell. I will try to post pictures sometime soon. Blogs are always more interesting when they have pictures!

Bye Bye.

I will see a lot of you Saturday <3

It has finally arrived...

2010-09-23T20:39:00.003-06:00

Okay, so maybe I am a day late but I am still very happy to announce that Fall has arrived. I think out of all the season fall has got to be my favorite. I love the cold mornings when you wake up feeling so warm and cozy in your bed and you have to force yourself out of bed and into your morning. The colours of the maple and mountain ash trees as they contranst with the yellows of the trees. The blue of the sky as the day warms up and you find yourself shedding layers. The sound of the leaves crunching under your footsteps. The cool wind blowing the leaves across the parking lot and off into the distant. The lack of bugs. Even the air smells crisp.

The only problem with fall is that it brings in the winter.

Well... nothing can be perfect.

2010-09-14T18:06:00.003-06:00

Today in school I held a human skull. A real human skull. It was amazing!

Yes, I know this is a picture of a fake one but I figured not everybody is as open to skulls as I am. :-P

1000

2010-09-13T09:44:00.002-06:00

Since I put up the counter a couple of months ago I have had officially 1000 hits. YAY! I was going to give a prize to whoever was the one thousandth person but since I have no idea how to tell, I guess not :-P

Happy Reading to all of you!

Happy Birthday

2010-09-12T19:06:00.006-06:00

Today my eldest sister turned 25 years old and since you only turn 25 once we celebrated. I jumped into my car and headed north and she hopped into her car and drove southbound till we met up in Calgary and headed straight for the new mall. For hours we talked and walked and window shopped until the shops started to close. Both Amanda and I agreed that there was one store in particular that we both LOVED. Can you guess? I will give you a hint.

.
If you guessed the Bass Pro Shop you are correct! Wow! What an amazing store. You could look around for hours and still not be bored. There are stuffed animals everywhere and they are all on display to look like they are doing something. This picture above shows a herd of deer being attacked in a realistic setting. The store even has two waterfalls and a stream with foot long fish in it and a giant aquarium with a large variety of fish for you to try to identify. Teachers could probably take their children hear for a field trip. If your in Calgary check it out, it is definitely worth it!

After the mall we found a hotel in Airdrie where we had a girls night. This includes facials, pedicures, a very late night, and lots of giggles and laughter.

These were the necessary supplies

Of course when it comes to pedicures only red will do!

I hope you had an amazing evening Amanda and I hope to celebrate many more birthdays with you. Have a great rest of your birthday with the rest of the family in Edmonton.

2010-09-11T08:58:00.003-06:00

My last post about work was very negative and even though I still feel the same about most of the issues I have decided to make a more positive approach to work.

1) As a cashier I never have to go outside and bring in carts. In Lethbridge we have service clerks that bring them in. Yay! No more freezing my butt off in the wintertime!

2) The children's carts in Lethbridge are hidden away and not allowed to go outside. This makes bringing in carts a lot easier for the service clerks.

3) While the a lot of the employees are a little on the.. sketchy.. side most of them have been with Save On for more many many years and know what they are doing, even if they might need a bath.

4) While not everyone wears there uniform the management is trying to get people to wear them by doing contests and one day they even went through and wrote everyone up that wasn't dressed properly. A lot of the employees still didn't care but at least they are trying.

5) I am never bored because either there is a lot of customers or there is a lot to clean. By the time I leave Save On the place should be spotless :-P

6) The customer are a lot friendly than the ones in St.Albert and a lot more understanding. I ask the customer if they want there milk in a bag and they laugh like its a ridiculous question and say no. In St.Albert, for the most part, everything had to be bagged and bagged separately. Pork does not go with beef and beef does not go with chicken and if you did watch out!

7) When customers bring in cloth bags they usually offer to bag them themselves which is really nice. Cloth bags slow down the line if when you are fighting with them and trying to put the groceries in without squishing anything. It's really nice!

I think I am going to print this list out and put it in my apron and next time when I have to pass a group of police officers arresting some people of questionable character to get to my car I will take this list out and read and reread it.

Have a great Saturday!

Eight on 8

2010-09-08T19:07:00.005-06:00

I know its suppose to be Ten on 10 (ten pictures on the tenth day of the month) but I revised it to fit my first day of school. Here is eight pictures showing my day.

Would you believe me if I told you that you were looking at 1000 dollars worth of merchandise? I found out first hand how expensive nursing books are. My teachers assured me they would be good for a couple semesters but still.. ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS! Ouch.

This is me on my first day. I felt very first grade getting my picture taken as I headed out the door but still very very excited!

I had to pay for parking :-( because I didn't have a parking pass yet. Four dollars for the whole day. I had to buy a coffee to come up with the change :-)

I then headed straight for the parking pass office and got one for the whole year.

I also got my photo id for when I work at the hospital to identify myself as a Practical Nurse. Wow that feels weird to say.

A couple nights ago my computer stopped working. It wouldn't turn on, and yes it was charged, so I had to bring it to Future Shop. I only had it for 2 weeks. I was so impressed with the service there I would highly recommend them. They took a quick look at it and told me that my computers mother board was defective and gave me a couple of options. They told me they would give me the money I paid for this one to put towards another computer of a different brand, they would send this one away to be fixed and put a rush on it so I would get it back as quick as possible or I could get a brand new one of the same kind. I was so happy! I actually got the other one dirt cheap because it was the last one and someone had returned it because they didn't like it. I even explained that to him and he still said I could have the brand new computer. Yay! He was very nice about it and didn't pressure me at all.

My brand new computer!! :-P

Now I have to go. Along with the first day of school comes the first set of assignments. Have a great day everybody.

Save on Foods

2010-08-27T19:52:00.002-06:00

Today I started at the new Lethbridge Save On Foods and wow, what a difference. At the St.Albert location Save on Foods is known as a high quality, high priced, and very very clean grocery store, and this is part of the reason I love it so much. Almost everybody that works there is reliable (with a few exceptions of course) and you can count on them coming to work in uniform on time and ready to work.

Today I walked into Save on 15 minutes early like i usually do so I can do a produce walk and fill out papers and read the binder to see if there is anything new. I walk up to the front and introduce myself for the first time and the lady looks at the clock and gives me a huge smile. She was shocked I came even a little bit early and told me I would quickly become a favorite if I kept that up. From what she told me most people don't show up until 5 or 10 minutes after there shift starts! That just boggles my mind. Its a job you are getting paid for why would you come in late. The she took in my uniform. There I stood white shirt, name tag, black pants, polishable shoes, and apron, the complete uniform and she told me how impressed she was that I was wearing the appropriate clothing. As I took in the other cashiers I saw what she meant, most of them were wearing jeans or regular t shirts, just whatever. The tills were completely different so I had a bit of a hard time adjusting and the customers are completely opposite.

So in short. I came from a very regulated clean Save On Foods to a Save On Foods where they are a lot more lax with the rules. Where my Save on Foods is high priced, this Save On Foods sells food in the reasonable to cheap range, thus attracting more average people with normal standards (which is a good thing). Basically though, it feels like I am working at Walmart. The store is dirty, the cashiers don't really seem to care and the lineup are long and never ending.

Hopefully after a couple of shifts I will get in the groove. I just need to get used to it.

It Is Well With My Soul

2010-08-25T16:55:00.003-06:00

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Refrain

It is well, with my soul,
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

Refrain

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

Refrain

For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:
If Jordan above me shall roll,
No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life
Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.

Refrain

But, Lord, ‘tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,
The sky, not the grave, is our goal;
Oh trump of the angel! Oh voice of the Lord!
Blessèd hope, blessèd rest of my soul!

Refrain

And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.

Refrain

Everyone has a song that when they hear someone humming, the tune brings back a flood of memories. A song that brings you back a step or two in time. This is my song.

For many many years when I was younger my mom had a couple copies of this CD "Country Church' and it was always playing in the back round whether we were travelling to the store or doing the dishes. As a result I know allot of our church hymns as well as I knew songs off the radio. 'It is Well With my Soul' was always the song I begged my mom to turn up and put on repeat.

This Sunday was the first Sunday that I attended the Lethbridge Church and if anybody has ever attended that church they would know that their congregation is HUGE. So imagine my excitement when I saw on the very bottom of the song list 'It is Well'. And let me tell you it was one of the most perfect singings of the song that I could have ever imagined. 1000 voices raised up to the Lord, the organ silent. I just closed my eyes and sang all the words from memory. What a beautiful sound. After the song when I opened my eyes I saw people with tears running down their faces. How blessed we are.

Lethbridge Bound

2010-08-22T18:31:00.005-06:00

After many goodbye parties for Save on Foods, Elves, church and meeting my other friends, It was finally time for me to leave. We loaded up the truck and my car full of clothes and furniture and books and we headed out. The trip was relatively uneventful with only one minor 'I'm almost out of gas' scare. We arrived friday night unloaded the big stuff and then headed to Richards soccer game and then it was off to search for hotel for the night. The next day we unpacked most of the rest, got a new phone number, and did alot of odd and end jobs.

Unpacking my many many boxes and suitcases.

This is MY NEW HOUSE! I live with three other girls Raylene, Lynette, and Anna. They all seem really nice and I think we will get along nice.

My room. I know my room is a mess but I haven't unpacked everything yet so maybe I will post a post move picture when the pictures are hung and clothes and boxes are hidden out of sight. Tomorrow I will move in for sure and it will be an eventful week as I try to get into the groove of life in Lethbridge.

This begins my adventures in a new area code. Feel free to visit at anytime.

I love...

2010-08-12T16:55:00.003-06:00

... the first ten minutes of nice, hot bath.

... experimenting in the kitchen.

... taking and editing photographs.

... selecting the perfect card (even if I have to look at every one of them).

... bare feet and painted toe nails.

... flipping through the pages of an old favorite book.

... the new book scent.

... browsing through libraries and bookstores (another place I could spend hours)

... slipping into a clean bed with freshly washed sheets.

... daydreaming.

... receiving a good old fashioned letter in the mail.

... writing pointless lists.

... waking up on a cold morning buried under a pile of warm fluzzy blankets.

... the satisfaction of cleaning a really messy closet or room.

... a nice big bowl of hot soup and bread fresh from the oven on a rainy thursday.

Yum Yum... Perfect.

Ten

2010-08-10T12:07:00.002-06:00

10 more days.

10 days to finish packing, sorting and organizing my suff.

10 days to say my goodbyes and I love you to family and friends.

I can't believe its finally time. It seems like just yesterday I made the decision to move and now in just 10 days my car will be loaded and I will be heading southbound down the QE2. All my plans are falling into place. I have a place to live, a job and my school schedule and only 10 more days in Edmonton.

Gaining

2010-05-30T20:48:00.003-06:00

This past week has been a whirl wind of activity. It all started last Sunday morning after the rest of the family had left for church. That is when Richard proposed. So after much excitement I am happy to announce that Richard will be joining our family on October 2 or 3 of this year.

We have gotten the dress and she is looking for the venue this weekend and everything should fall into place quickly. I pray that the Lord blesses their engagement and all their plans for the future.

Congratulations Michelle and Richard.

Moving On

2010-03-24T17:36:00.002-06:00

For two long and blessed years I have been working at Elves and now with this school year coming to a close so is this chapter of my life. I am moving on. Its not that I don't love my job (which I do) its just I need a plan for my future. My job may not be around for that long because of government budget cuts to special education and I realized this is probably a good time to go back to school. So I am heading off to Lethbridge this September and going to the college there. I am becoming an LPN and am very excited by the possibilities. I have already got my acceptance letter and now I have to work out all the details. I am already making lists.

I need to
1) Create a budget to make sure I will have enough to go and live while down there. I don't want to have to work if I don't have to as the first year is suppose to be very challenging, but I know I have to face the fact that I most likely will have to work.

2) Find a place to live. I am hoping to place an ad in the church bulliten and will hopeful be able to billet out.

3) Send my previous courses I took at Grant Mac and hopefully some of the courses will transfer so it will be cheaper to take and not as heavy of course load.

4) Start to gather supplies that I will need. Most I should already have but I need some other major items like a laptop and things like that.

and the list goes on... My stomach is in knots just thinking about going but I am sure everything (DV) will fall into place.

"Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord."
1 Corinthians 15:58

Saturday's

2010-01-31T23:04:00.003-07:00

We have been blessed with a very mild January with the temperature sometimes rising above zero. But we all knew it couldn't last. This Saturday I was a little surprised when I stepped outside and not only was my car covered in a layer of snow but I actually had to put my mittens on. My plan was to walk down to the library and get some books out but the moment I felt the cold I dug my keys out of my purse and hopped into my car.

I love going to the library. I usually need someone along with me hurrying me along so I don't spend hours there flipping through the books. Skimming them and deciding whether it is a book worth reading now, later or never. Soon my arms get tired and I look down and realize I probably have 15 books. Way to many to take home and I have to choose between my picks. I recently leave some behind with the promise to pick them up next week and I head home.

I put on the water to boil. Make a nice cup of hot peppermint tea and curl up on the couch with my books, and a blanket.

I think its a perfect afternoon.

Wanted: One Forever Family

2010-01-27T00:13:00.003-07:00

Adoption - a legal proceeding that creates a parent-child relation between persons not related by blood; the adopted child is entitled to all privileges belonging to a natural child of the adoptive parents

From a young age we are taught that when children are adopted they are brought into a safe, loving and PERMANENT enviroment. They are taken from a place of uncertainty from many different circumstanced and brought to a mom and dad who will be there forever. A place where they can finally feel safe and know that their journey to a forever family is over, they are finally home.

Unfortuatly, the people that tell you this fail to mention that sometimes these adoptions have a return policy. That after a certain amount of time these children can be returned to the province to start the adoption process over. One child in our class has had this happen to him. Twice.

Twice he was brought into a family.

Twice he met his new mom and dad.

And twice he was returned.

He is four years old.

And now we just learned he was about to be given to another family. Luckily the social worker took his case very slowly this time. They showed the family videos. They described him in great detail and then the perceptive parents decided against it. I am just happy he never even got to met this family.

I know he has his share of problems. He can throw an tantrum like nobody I have ever met, but he is so cute and innocent that even in the middle of the worst he can possibly give us my heart still melts. What these parents missed out on is his adorable smile that lights up the room when he sees us. They missed out on his spontanous hugs that seem impossibly strong coming from such a little guy. They missed out on his laugh when he is super surprised or happy or delighted. Nobody is there to see him dancing along to the music, singing at the top of his lungs, and doing all the actions so dramatically.

This little guy needs a forever home that has two stable and loving parents that can keep up with him. A family who can see past all of his faults and see to the potential he has.

I wish I could adopt him.

Sick

2010-01-24T21:50:00.003-07:00

My throat is sore and I have a horrible cough. It started on saturday and got worse today. All I feel like doing is sleeping.

So things I have done in the past week.

1) I have always loved using the photo editor on my computer to change photos and am always playing around with it. A couple of weeks ago my aunt approached me and asked me if I could add a certain person to the family picture. The didn't notice he was missing till after the photo was taken so they took a picture of him and gave both files to me. Turned out good eh?

Can you tell me which one is photoshopped??

2) Michelle and Shauna are leaving for the dominican today. I am so proud of all they are doing down there. I know that this is the second years for Shauna and several of the other people have formed alot of attachments to the people and children down there and its great they could go back to see them. I will be prayng for them. Safe travels team.

"Declare His glory among the nations, his marvelous deed among all people."

Psalm 96:3

Have you ever had..

2010-01-20T16:34:00.002-07:00

Have you ever had one of those days where you just keep repeating to yourself... I love my job. I love my job. I love my job. I love my job. Trying to convince yourself that if you can just hold on till 2:30 everything will be okay. Well I have had one of those days.... twice now.

The week started on such a good note. The children were unusually well behaved and all the staff in the school were commenting on how quiet ours kids were. It was the calm before the storm.

The next morning I woke up with a feeling in my stomach that I could not get rid of, and I knew Tuesday was going to be bad. I was on bus duty and when I got to a certain bus the bus driver just rolled her eyes and said "Good luck today" Another TA and I had to physically remove her from the bus as she was screaming and refusing to leave. When we got her to the classroom we took off her coat and she was still in her PJ's. We opened her backpack found her clothes for the day and a little baggy with some pills inside it. It had a note attached to it that said the respite home she was in could not control her since the night before and that she had not slept yet or taken her pills for the day. Sigh.. Why even bother to send her in?

She had tantrums all day and I think I spent the whole day in the hallway trying to contain her. Poor girl. She never asked for her mom to drink when she was in womb and yet now her mother is far away and someone else is raising her child and dealing with the monster she created. Its not fair.

Today she was back under control and doing good. But it was still a horrible day. It just seemed to shift to another child. This child seemed fine but when we went to circle he started to act up. I turned my attention to another child for a moment and he grabbed his shoes off his feet and threw his shoes at another TA. I quickly removed him from circle and told him he could go back when he ready. He then tried to get the other TA and I moved him to the door and as I moved him he scratched my arms. And I mean scratched them, they look horrible. I sat with him for over half an hour before he could join the other group. What frustrates me the most about this situation is that we told the teacher about it and she is not willing to do anything about it. She refuses to put him on a behaviour plan because she thinks he is such a good kid and it must be something we do. GRRRR...... Maybe he has to attack her for her to do anything.

Anyway that is my rant for the day. I will leave you with a cute story.

One of the ladies at work is 8 months pregnant and she has a HUGE belly. One of the kids asked her about her belly and she told her she had a baby in her stomach. The girls looks at her with disgust and replies, " Ewwwww... You eat babies!"

Hahahaha...

PS I looked up worst tantrums on You tube and I could not find any tantrums even close to the tantrums we deal with at school.

I Need Africa More Than Africa Needs Me

2010-01-10T21:17:00.003-07:00

When I think of Africa, the following images immediately come to mind: Starvation. AIDS. Child soldiers. Genocide. Sex slaves. Orphans. From there, my thoughts naturally turn to how I can help, how I can make a difference. "I am needed here," I think. "They have so little, and I have so much." It's true, there are great tragedies playing out in Africa everyday. There is often a level of suffering here that is unimaginable until you have seen it, and even then it is difficult to believe. But what is even harder is reconciling the challenges that many Africans face with the joy I see in those same people. It's a joy that comes from somewhere I cannot fathom, not within the framework that has been my life to this day.

The images spilling out of my television showed circumstances that could seemingly only equal misery, and I was fooled. I bought into the lie that circumstance defines happiness. The truth is, in Africa I find hearts full of victory, indomitable spirits. In places where despair should thrive, instead I find adults dancing and singing, and children playing soccer with a ball crafted of tied up trash. Instead of payback, I find grace. Here, weekend getaways are not options to provide relief from the pains of daily life. Relationships and faith provide joy. Love is sovereign.

My new reality… I know now that my joy should have no regard for my circumstances. I'm ashamed by my lack of faith, but at the very same moment I am excited by my new pursuit. I'm forced to redefine the meaning of having much or having little. I'm uneasy with the prospect of change and of letting go, but just the thought of freedom is liberating. I want what I have learned to trickle down from my head into my heart - I no longer want to need the "next thing" to have joy.

I'm not saying that Africa does not need our efforts. It absolutely does need our partnership. But for me, I've come to understand that I NEED AFRICA MORE THAN AFRICA NEEDS ME. Why? Because it is Africa that has taught me that possessions in my hands will never be as valuable as peace in my heart. I've learned that I don't need what I have and that I have what I need. These are just a few of this continent's many lessons. I came here to serve and yet I've found that I have so much to learn, and Africa, with all its need, has much to teach me.

30 by 30

2010-01-08T22:07:00.003-07:00

I was reading a blog and I got this idea to make a list. These are thirty things I want to do before I turn the age thirty. I know somethings I might not achieve or they aren't meant to be but I am going to try accomplish all of them. So here is the list;

1. Get up early specifically to see a sunset
2. Run a half marathon
3. Climb a mountain
4. Get my first aid and CPR
5. Go whale and/or dolphin watching
6. Go skydiving
7. Drive a motorcycle
8. Sit on a jury
9. Become a foster parent
10. Go bungee jumping
11. Donate blood 30 times
12. Take a karate class
13. Read the bible from front to back
14. Pay for a meal for a stranger
15. Take a photography class
16. Buy a house
17. Get married and start a family
18. Go to a drive in theatre
19. Try a new cuisine
20. Visit a place important to Canadian history
21. Kiss someone in the rain.
22. Get my portrait drawn or painted
23. Read all the books on the New York Times Best Sellers list
24. Sing karaoke in public
25. Learn a second language
26. Go to ballet, opera, or orchestra
27. Cook a gourmet meal
28. Go camping and sleep under the stars
29. Visit 5 countries
30. Hold a spider or snake.

Some on the list will be very easy to do, some I am half way done, and some might take years but thats okay. What do you think??

Sunday Lunch

2010-01-04T19:12:00.002-07:00

A couple of Sundays ago my uncle jokingly invited us to lunch at him house. He lives on his own and said he is still in the process of learning to cook. Last Sunday he told us that he bought a cookbook and wanted us to come over. I was impressed the soup was so good! He later admitted he practiced before we came over.

Uncle Rob stirring his delicious soup.

The final preparations on the lunch.

While we waited for lunch my dad, Megan, and my sisters made a puzzle. The whole afternoon was a lot of fun and now I guess we owe him lunch. He already requested apple pie for dessert so I guess it will have to be soon!

A Year in Photos

2010-01-01T15:59:00.003-07:00

HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYONE!!

Tobogganing

2009-12-30T23:43:00.003-07:00

Yesterday Michelle, Richard and I headed out to seven hills for some good old fashion entertainment. Michelle and I have been talking about going for a long time since the hill is a walking distance away and we finally did it. We had so much fun! When we arrived there was another group there and the hill looked SO big that we almost turned around and went home but we went and had a blast.

The three of us after an hour of sledding. We are starting to get tired and cold and ready to go home.

This is another of Richard's attempt at photography. Its not to bad but I did edit it and crop it to make it look a little better. You are improving Richard!

The cute couple. They did not want to take this picture but I think it turned out good!

I love most aspects of sledding but not everything.

Pros - Flying down the hill going as fast as you can , with your adrenalin running wild.

Cons - Once at the bottom you gotta go back up.

Pros - Piling at many people as possible on a little sled and attempting to make it to the bottom.

Cons - Not being able to control the sled and sliding into people by accident.

Pros - I think sledding is the only sport that can bring out the child in any person. As you head down the hill you can help but let out a laugh or a scream.

Cons - It is the only time you are super hot and super cold at the same time.

Merry Christmas

2009-12-29T13:05:00.003-07:00

This year we had a very nice Christmas together. I don't really have a lot of time (we are going sledding soon) so I will leave you with some pictures.

I think I made this in grade 1 or 2 and every year it goes up. I think most of our decorations have been made by one of us girls.

This is a good picture of my mom and dad.

Richard tried to take a family photo but it didn't turn out that great. This is the best one I could find.

Michelle and Richard.

And Shauna got a SN*GGIE for Christmas. The blanket that has sleeves. WOW.

All the young people wearing our crowns.

Michelle setting the table.

Preparing our delicious meal. Yum Yum.. Thanks mom and dad.

After dinner Uncle Art and Aunty Alice, and Uncle Tony and Aunty Carol came over for pie and munchies. It was a great end to a great day.

Sorry it was a little boring it will be better next time.

Chapati

2009-12-26T21:36:00.004-07:00

During my stay in Uganda I wrote plenty of emails complaining to family and friends about how I was starving in Uganda. About how I could barely swallow the food and how much they tried to feed us. But I was not entirely truthful. I didn't hate all the food. There was one type of food I could not get enough of; Chapati. It was so delicious.

This is Mindy, Richard, and Anne making them in the kitchen in Uganda. Everyone in the house had a turn trying to make them, except for Nandrie and I. So today I looked up a recipe and tried to make them for myself.

First I mixed flour, water, oil, and salt together and let it sit for half an hour.

Then I rolled them into balls.

And rolled them out to fit in the frying pan.

Then I fried them up till they were cooked. Flipping once.

Don't they look good! And they tasted authentic too!! Next time I am going to us my George Foreman grill and hopefully it will be faster and maybe taste even better.

Warning: In Uganda this recipe would only feed one person, but in Canada it would probably feed a family of 6.

Differences

2009-12-23T23:09:00.003-07:00

When I came back from Uganda it was almost a culture shock coming back to Canada. It wasn't the huge things that bothered me but all the little things that we did without realizing it. This really hit me hard when we were planning the Christmas concert. Rev. Pols asked us to include all the Bible history and catechism classes so at the first practice they all showed up but the whole time they complained and whined about how they had other places to go, so we let them go and practiced with just the lttile ones. The next sunday not a single one showed up. They refused to participate and the parents told them they didn't have to if they didn't want to. It was only because on the sunday of the concert Rev. Pols announced the concert and called them up to the front that they came. Very slowly.

Once they arrived at the front the just stood there. They didn't participate. They didn't sing, they just stood there. Not all of them but a lot of the older ones. (The little guys sang there hearts out and were so darn cute they stole the show!)

When we were in Uganda the school had a choir. There were kids of all ages and grades and all the kids wanted to be in it. The problem was there is a small fee to enroll and not all of the parents could afford it so not all of the kids could be n choir. You should have seen all of them they would try to sneak in or they would stand outside of the circle singing alone or just watching with longing in there eyes. And you should have seen the kids in the choir they sang with all there hearts they knew what a privilege it was to sing in the group.

Aren't they adorable? They sing with out being self conscience or without worrying about who is going to see them. I wish the girls and boys in our church would realize that they look more foolish when they don't sing then if they do.

Oh Christmas Tree Oh Christmas Tree

2009-12-21T22:17:00.000-07:00

Amanda and I have been going to the stores trying to find a quailty artifical tree at a low price, but after weeks of searching we realized that our best bet will to be to try get one after Christmas. So ths is our temparory fix. He he he.. poor plant!

Christmas Concert

2009-12-19T22:38:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is the date of our Sunday School Christmas concert. The butterflies in my stomach started days ago and as tomorrow draws closer they are seemingly multiplying. I have been busy all day filling paper bags with goodies, making bulletins, and making last minute calls and I am exhausted!

While these don't look to amazing I assure you they are filled with many many goodies that I am praying the children with enjoy.

Shauna came over today to help with them and she happened to bring another project along. Her work is having a crew incentive box and they wanted her to decorate it. This is what we came up with.

Hehehe.. I hope Shauna's work is happy with the box, it took us a long time!

And lastly, we finally got the candles from the Partylite party. I am very happy with them and we lite them immediatley. They smell delicous!

Only 13 more hours till the Christmas concert. I better get some sleep. I hope it goes well!!

All I want for Christmas is....

2009-12-18T20:44:00.000-07:00

...this...

This winter had been expecially cold with weather into minus forties. Brrrrr.. The cold even seemed to come into our house making it impossible to warm up even with a pile of blankets. That is why it would be awesome to have one of these babies. I would like to introduce to you the Nomis heated hoodies. Just read this description;

80% Cotton 20% Poly. Nomis custom made heated full zip hoodies, with allover print, heavy embroidery on chest, lined and super think with 3 coil heater in body, heavy embroidery on chest. Washable, comes with battery pack. Size Guide inches M chest 42, length 29 from back of neck to hem L chest 46, length 31 XL chest 52, length 32

Doesn't that sound amazing!

2009-12-17T22:46:00.000-07:00

Hehehehehe.

I just thought that was cute!

Today was the last day with kids this year and even though I adore all of them I am glad for a break. This year has been a very stressful year and the past couple of weeks have been trying. We finally got things calmed down in one room and the other room started to go wild. Sigh... it never ends. Luckily with the bad also comes some very cute moments.

G - "Can we go outside? Please we haven't been outside forever.. "

Me - "Sorry buddy its to cold outside still. Maybe tomorrow."

K - "Ya G its minus 100 degrees out there..... AND THATS WITHOUT THE WINDSHEILD!!"

Undiscovered Tribes

2009-11-28T11:04:00.000-07:00

I found these pictures a while back and am still amazed every time I look at them. This is a tribe in South America near Peru, I think, that have never had any contact with the civilized world. They flew over with a biplane and this is what they saw.

These people had never seen a plane before so when it flew over they got dressed up, painted them selves red (meaning war) and were ready to take down the giant bird.

That is truly amazing.

Farwell

2009-03-23T22:33:00.000-06:00

There has been a lot chnages recently in our household. First of all, Amanda has moved into a fourplex in St.Albert with my cousin Christina. We moved her out on Saturday and since she only had one room we didn't think it would be that big of challange. It was around 10 0'clock at night when I finally made it home and we hadn't even unpack! It was crazy! She had a lot more stuff then any of us thought she had but we got it all there eventually. Its a new exciting chapter for Amanda and Christina and I hope they will do well together.

The second thing is; I"M GETTING MY OWN ROOM. This may not seem exciting but after 20 years of sharing my room with Shauna I need my own space. She hasn't moved yet because she is painting and putting in new flooring before heading over there but she is trying to hurry the process along as fast as possible. She is just as excited to move as I am to see her go.

The third is that Jamie might be coming over and building a my mom's long awaited linen closet and maybe redo the bathroom. We took the tiles off the wall before we had the flood and we have been waiting to get it fixed ever since and now its happening.

And last but definitely most important. 7 SLEEPS TILL CUBA!!!! HIPP HIPP HOORAY! I'm excited to see you again Jolene.

bye bye

Rings

2009-03-06T17:02:00.000-07:00

For my birthday last year my mom gave me a ring. It is pink and has 2 little white dimonds on the side and I love it. Today at work I was playing dolls with Julie and Daniel when they noticed my ring. Julie was carefully inspecting it when she suddenly declared, "When I grow up I want a ring just like yours." Daniel looked at it and with a serious expression he asked "Did you have to kiss a boy to get it? Because thats gross."

It was so adorable.

Whoops

2009-03-02T21:12:00.001-07:00

I'm not very good at keeping up with this blog. Sometimes I think about it but I never feel inspired enough to write. Sorry. I have a little more time now that we have finished our play, which I'm happy to say was a good success!! We made enough money to rent a bus down in the Dominican for a whole week for the missions people so it turned out pretty good and people were already talking about 'our next one' which will probably happen in 5 years from now :-P

I am happy to say that we are officially going to Cuba we are leaving on March 30 and going for a week.. YAY!! It's starting to feel a little real ever since Shauna came home from DR and told all her wonderful stories. I know it won't even be comparable since she did hard manual labour and I'm staying at a resort but I think we will both have equal amounts of fun. I'M SO EXCITED JOLENE!!!

Anyway I don't have anything else to say so I will try to write again before my trip. bye bye

Oops

2009-01-26T19:34:00.000-07:00

I just realized that I have not updated my blog for almost 2 months! Sorry. I life has been going by so fast and I never seem to have the time. I have some awesome news. I am going to Cuba for spring break with Jolene. My face has a permagrin and I can't wait till its time to leave. I have a feeling its going to come quickly because I have so much going on in this month.

First off on sunday we went to Ponoka to visit Jessica and see her wedding and honeymoon. It was amazing. We left right after our church service and headed to the Ponoka church. It took a little longer then we thought it would and we were a little late. whoops. so we walked in and it was packed because there was a baptism and the only spot was in the front centre. It was a little embarrasing but we survived. Then we headed to there house it was really cute.

Second, this morning my parent, mitch and jen left for Mexico. I'm a little jealous but I kept reminding myself 59 days to Cuba! They come home next monday and Jason leaves for Jamaca..

Then the saturday after is the Alberta wide Young Adults retreat which should be fun and the weekend after is our dinner theatre and the weekend after a couple of us are heading to Neerlandia to see there dinner theatre. So the next couple weeks are going to be full and fun so hopefully the time passes quickly and I will be on a beach in Cuba in no time.

PS I hope your having fun in Mexico mom!

PJ Party

2008-11-22T22:28:00.000-07:00

On Friday we had our PJ party at school. I just woke up and went to work and we made pancakes and watched movies it was awesome. Its been a really rough week with the kids becasue the children were wild because of the changing weather and we had not staff. I think I was the only one that showed up every day this week. We had one day where there was three subs and only two teachers. Sigh.. I wish people would show up if they are suppose too..

On the other hand my mom and dad are gone to calgary this weekend for my dad's Christmas Party and we have the house to ourselves. Its been fun. I don't remember if I told you about my Christmas party but it was fun. I took Michelle as my date and we went to the dinner theatre. It was amazing. It was a spoff of Pirates of the Carribeen and the main character looks exactly like Jack it was amazing. The food was pretty good and the company was not to bad.

On monday I am going to a Mary-Kay foot spa party. Michelle's friend she went to Peru with is going on a mission with her church for a year and a half so we are going to see her for the last time and play dutch blitz with her. She won't be able to phone or email or text anybody while she's gone and the only form of communicate she is allowed is letter writing so hopeful Michelle will keep contact with her.

So thats my weekly news. Bye bye Y'all

Potluck

2008-11-10T14:57:00.000-07:00

Tonight is our fall potluck that we have before the congragational meeting. It should be fun we are having a person from the Pregnancy Councelling Centre coming in to talk to us about all they do to help mothers and babies. I am just waiting for the potatoes to finish cooking so I can finish the shepards pie I am making. It smells so good I can't wait to dig into it!

We carved "reformation day" pumpkins last wednesday. We had been waiting for all of us to be together to do it but our schedules never allow us to be together at the same time so just Amanda and I carved the pumpkins. I did a lovely little bird and Amanda did some feathers around her pumpkin. Both turned out very well but I can't show you the pictures because it is taking to long to download them onto the computer. Michelle has drawn out her picture but she just has to carve it. She is doing Martin Luther's house :-P

On Sunday I got a surprise. I learned that the Christmas concert for the children is going to be on Dec. the 5th. We hadn't even started the planning and now we have to get the children to memorize the songs in under 3 weeks. Yikes. So we took out a video of the first ever Christmas concert and watched it to get ideas and I must say we are soooo cute. It takes place in 1994 and Shauna is the youngest person there and she is 2. All she does is stand there and look super cute (for once in her life). She is like 10 steps behind every one in the actions and little Jermeny Vankampen kept giving her the dirtiest looks. It was really cool to see all the people in our youth group look so cute and what our parents looked like from back then. We really wanted to show clips of the video for the people to see everyone 15 years ago but I don't think we would be able too. I think that we are going to video tape ours and put it in the church library so that when these kids grow up they can see how cute they are.

Anyway so I have a lot of typing and photocopying to do and I have to get a hold of a lot of people about the Christmas concert so I better get going. Hopefully I can pull this off! TTYA later!!

Rain Rain Go Away

2008-11-03T21:40:00.000-07:00

It hasn't snowe here in Edmonton yet but we are just holding our breath waiting for the first snowflakes to grace us with there appearance. Instead today it rained, which I almost think is worse. Luckily it cleared up enough for us all to out for recess today so the kids could burn off a little energy. I started to attempt to crochet but I really have to keep practicing, I'm not very good. Hopefully I willbe able to make a blanket or something cool like that one day. Every tuesday our church has a volleyball game and I was really looking forwards to going this week but it turns out I have to work which really sucks. Anyway this was just a short blog to make Jolene happy. hahaha. Just joshing. I need the reminders Jo otherwise I would never remember to do it. I will do a better post later!

Flu Shots

2008-10-16T21:06:00.001-06:00

Today at school all the children got there flu shot. They had one hour to do them in and about 100 children to do so it was a little choatic. The children once they saw the needle absoultely freaked out and sometimes it took up to 4 staff members to hold one child down enough to give the needle. The rest of the day was spent trying to comfort the children and trying to prevent them from bursting into tears on whim. The day was so stressful. I'm glad it only happens once a year!

A Fall Walk

2008-10-01T22:24:00.000-06:00

Today my class at school sent for a beautiful fall walk. It turned out better then expected as the weather has been at an unusual high the past couple days almost reaching 30 degrees each day. It has been gorgeous. The air smelled like fall and the colorful leaves showered down on us from the trees above. The children were all really well behaved and held our hands the entire time with out a struggle. They really enjoyed crunching the leaves beneath their feet. The highlight of the trip was a cute bunny that hopped past us. We told the children to be really quiet and the bunny just hopped right up to us and stopped for a second before continuing on its journey. It was the highlight of the trip. It was actually a fun time.

We also had a scavengar hunt this past saturday night. I will post pictures as soon as I can but they won't upload.. Sorry!

A Busy Couple Days

2008-09-26T19:05:00.000-06:00

There was a young autistic child in our school program that wasn't doing to well in his class. There was another child in his class that was bullying to the point that the teacher no longer had control of the class. It was horrible. So we traded a good child in our class who only acted up occasionally for this autistic child. Well as you may or may not know, autistic children do not adapt well to change and for the first day he just laid by the door screaming, "Frank is lost, Frank need to go back his class room, please help me" At the top of his lungs, trying to get back to his class room. Its gotten better as the week has progressed though and he is finally getting the ropes of things. He is thriving in this class and all the kids accept him as normal and he is a very cute kid.

Today we had a no kids day which we have every second friday, and you pretty much need it to keep your sanity. On these days we just socialize and plan the next 2 weeks. The friday before thanksgiving we are going to make a big pot of soup for the kids and they will help us make it. They are going to cut vegetables with plastic knives then get to eat it later. it should be fun!!

We got a new employee for our class room. The previous one was fired because she only showed up when she felt like it. She has been making some very bad decision with her life and is now suffering the consquences. I feel very bad for here but she has put her self in this position.

Also, I am so excited for the vaca that Jolene, Michelle and I are going on. I'm not going to say much about it until its officially booked but I'm so excited I can barely wait for the 6 months till it happens. Maybe I will go to Mexico at Christmas time. Hahaha.. Probably not I don't have a boss that will help me pay for it :-p

My Aunty Jo is staying with us right now. She came down for the funeral and to help clean out my grandpa's house and to visit my Uncle who has recently come down with infection and was admitted to the hospital. He seems to be doing better but I'm not quite certain.

Also we might have a couple girls from Neerlandia stay at our house from saturday till sunday so we will have a full house. They are coming down for a photo scavengar hunt at WEM so it should be fun.

I have been taking lessons from Jolene and have got a planner to organize my appointments and stuff like that. We will have to see if it works or not.

Thats all for now, See you all later

PS Jolene write on your blog :-P

Internet Down

2008-09-15T16:11:00.000-06:00

On Saturday Shauna, Amanda and I all went to one of Amanda's boss' rental houses and picked apples from his trees. We got four different kinds and have a huge basket full at home. Then we spent the rest of the day baking pies and apple sauce and apple crisp and any other applely delight we could think of and we have only made a small dent in the pile. We ended up missing the football game because we had to bake to try get ride of some apples. The seats were awesome ones to on the main level at the centre line so it was kind of sad they were wasted. We were going to give them to Jamie for working on our fence but he left before we could.

On Saturday Jamie and my dad started to rebuild our fence but when they were taking it down they realized they accidently cut the internet line so we don't have internet for two weeks until they get it fixed. So now we are internetless and fenceless because they haven't finished yet. Hope we get both soon!!

Happy Birthday To You........

2008-09-12T16:49:00.000-06:00

The preparations began several days ago with the baking a cake. Today that same cake was iced, a special dinner is roasting in the oven and the house is decorated. Gifts purchased at an earlier date are gaily wrapped with colorful paper ready to be torn open and special birthday messages are waiting to be read in carefully picked cards. What is this all for?? It is for the celebration of Amanda's 23 anniversary on this earth. So Happy Birthday Amanda. This is for you.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOUUUUUUUUUUUU
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR AMANDAAAAAAAAAAAAA
HAAAPPPYYY BBBIIRRTTHHDDAAYY TOOOOOOOO YOOOOOOOUUUUU!!!!

(imagine the loud off key singing)

Hope you have a great day!!

Whoops

2008-09-08T18:03:00.000-06:00

Sorry I haven't updated my blog for a little while its been a pretty busy last week with starting my new job and stuff. So my first week was interesting... The kids I work with are not mentally disabled but rather have behavioural problems that need to be fixed before going on to regular school. They are constantly screaming and throwing tantrums over nothing and nothing seems to calm them down. We have on girl who tends to throw up when she's mad at you and 3 of our kids have lice out of the 7 in the one class so we are not allowed to hug them or anything. Last week I was in the one class and this week I am in the other. The class I'm in now makes the other class look good though so its really hard and it doesn't help that we are understaffed.

The other thing that happened was the soap box derby on Saturday it was so much fun. There was an awesome turn out of neighbourhood people and everything went smoothly and everyone had fun. In addition to racing the soap boxes there was also scavenger hunts, a giant bouncy thing, popcorn, hot dogs and hamburgers, a DJ that played music, and face painting. The planners went way out of there way and it was well thought out. I had fun until I got to my car and found out that somebody had broken into my car and stolen my purse. Luckily there was no damage to my car but I had a lot of stuff in there that was either irreplaceable or its going to be hard to replace. I have been running around trying to get a new license and I closed my old bank account and got a new one and stuff like that. I am really kicking myself for leaving it in there though. I know better but just this once I decided I didn't want to carry my purse around so I put it under my car seat thinking it will be alright because I has just going to be across the street. My car was in plan viewing sight from where I was so I don't know how nobody saw but I guess I know better now.

I applied at Save on Foods for a second job after teaching so I can save a lot of money for when I go to Africa and maybe for school if I go again so I figured I better be prepared and its better to have to much then run short. So I hope that works out. Anyway I hope I update soon. Bye.

Missions Trip

2008-08-31T16:31:00.000-06:00

Today after the church service there was a meeting about an Missions oppurtunity in the Dominican Republic working to build a medical centre for an orphanage and working in the orphanage for anybody in our church who is high school age or older. I think it would be an excellant oppertunity and Pete Wright made sure to state that only those who were active in helping around the church are allowed to go. I was thankful for this because I have a feeling many people are interested because its in the tropics. I wish I could go but people thinks it will cost about 1500-2000 dollars and I don't think I could afford that. A couple of us were thinking that we could fundraise enough that we won't have to pay to much but I don't know how that will work out. I hope all goes well with the planning though!

New Classroom

2008-08-28T18:23:00.000-06:00

So, as I have written before I am now offically an teaching assistant at Elves. I started last monday and have been introduced to Cathy (the teacher in the classroom), Ana, Debbie, and Brenda (all teaching assistants like me), and many other people including a girl who I new from my previous job at the tree farm. All week we have been busy trying to get the classroom ready for Tuesday when the children come in, I'm so nervous about meeting them, I've been reading files on them and they don't seem that bad. I have been told that this classroom has had reports of lice throughout the whole last year but the teachers say that as long as you have your hair tied back and use hairspray I won't get it.... I'm going out to buy hairspray now :-P

These are my pictures of one of my classrooms. This one is for the higher functioning students ready for kindergarden and the other classroom is for kindergarden age students who aren't quite ready for kindergarden yet.

Sorry, they may not be too clear I just took them with my cell phone and the classroom has not been decorated or cleaned yet.

On another note, last monday Michelle and I delivered fliers with some people from church. We are hosting a soap box derby on the road in front of our church for all the people in the neighbourhood and our church. Its going to be fun. Its our fourth one and they are always fun.

Note: In case you hadn't noticed this is my first attempt with the pictures on my blog and I hope they turn out :-)

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

2008-08-24T14:39:00.000-06:00

Many things have happened over this weekend so I'm putting them in point form.

1) We have the BIG baseball tournment in Edmonton yesterday and I am happy say that Edmonton won by quite a bit. It ended up being loads of fun even though a bunch of the guys had to leave in the middle of the game to go play football. The weather was perfect to be playing and I forgot to wear sunscreen so now I'm burnt to crisp. After a couple of us went to the pool to cool off and then we watched Toy Story 2.

2) Yesterday and today they are redoing the roads in front of our house so the road has been blocked off in certain places. Right now asI write they are directly in front of our house so I hope they finish before its time to head to church

3) Today as Shauna and I were playing a card game Harley kept bugging us to play with us, or so I thought, when I looked down to grab his toy to throw it for him I saw they Harley had in fact used his super sweet hunting skills to kill a little mouse. This mouse has been taunting Harley for the last little while and he has been searching for it all weekend. Thanks Harley!

4) Yesterday I found out that Jenny is going to be the other Sunday school teacher with me and this year I get some of the cutest children in my class. It makes me so excited. I can't wait to decorate my class for sunday school.

So Thats all I have to say for right now. I'm starting my new job tomorrow so we will see how that goes

A Busy Day

2008-08-21T19:22:00.000-06:00

So this morning started off on a very good note. I had an interview with the school and they said that they would most likely hire me, which was a relief to hear because I was so nervous. The principal of the school was very nice and told me that even though I was the first person she interviewed she was certain I would get the job and told me that my first day would be monday, its kind of a staff bonding day and training. I am going to be learning many new things at this job like lifts and transfers (which I already know how to do due to my schooling), how to do tube feedings and stuff like that. I am super stoked. I am going to be helping teaching 2 to 5 year olds so its a good age.

On Saturday I have another interview with the physio clinic as the receptionist for the evening, I'm not quite sure how that is going to work out though because I would have to start work after 4. Hopefully it will all work out because I think it will be an experience to work there.

I finally have my bed back!!! We moved my bed down on the main floor so my mom wouldn't have to scale the stairs everytime she had to go to bed and since then I have been sleeping on my floor in my bedroom or in the basement or on the trampoline or crashing on the couch, and even though I have been sleeping alright and have no complaints I am thankful that my mom is well enough she can go upstairs and I can have my bedroom back.

And last but not least, we have finished watching season 6 of Little House on the Prairie and I think that it has been my favorite season yet. Its the season the Laura meets and gets engaged to Almonzo and after watching it it puts a smile on my face that lasts a long long time. I thinks that Little House on the Prairie has become my all time favorite TV show.

So I have written a lot and I hope you haven't fallen asleep before finishing reading toady's entry!! Later

Cheers for the Classifieds

2008-08-20T14:45:00.000-06:00

This morning when I was doing my daily looking through the classifieds this ad seemed to just pop right out of the page;

ELVES SPECIAL Needs Society requires F/T Teaching Assistants and P/T relief Teaching Assistants. Exp. w.medically-fragile special needs pre-school children.

I got so excited because I have really wanted to work with special needs children so I headed over there as soon as possible and before I even got home the principle at the had called my house to set up an interview. This has come at the perfect time because I was really getting down about not being able to find a job. So I now have an interview for Thursday and am super excited. I really hope I get the job.

Trial Run

2008-08-19T15:03:00.000-06:00

So this is my first ever attempt at a blog and i'm not sure how awesome its going to be. I have been reading a lot of blogs lately and have finally had the inspiration to try it for myself. Hopefully i will be able to update this blog regularly and but I might need some people to remind me. So feel free to comment on any of my posts, it would be greatly appreciated so it doesn't feel like I'm writing to myself. Thanks Y'all. Later